402 U. S. P. E. R. EXP. AMD SURVEYS—ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPOET. Family ALAUDIDAE- First primary very short or wanting. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly and posteriorly, with the plates nearly of corresponding position and number. Hind claw very long and nearly straight. Bill short, conical, frontal feathers extending a!ong the side ofthe bill; the nostrils usually concealed by a tuft of bristly feathers directed forwards. Tertials greatly elongated beyond the secondaries. Of thefamily oi Alaudidae but a single genus, Hremophila, is found in North America. The most characteristic feature of the larks, among the other Oscines is seen in the structure of the tarsus. The anteriorjhalf of this is covered by divided scales lapping round on the sides, but instead of the two plates which go one on each side of the posterior half, and uniting ultimately behind as an acute ridge, there is but one which laps round on the sides anteriorly, and is divided into scales like^the^anterior ones, but alternating with them. The posterior edge of the tarsus is as obtuse as the anterior, instead of being very acute. There is a deep separating groove on the inner side of the tarsus, and there may really be but one plate divided transversely, the edges meeting at this place. The other characters ofthe Alaudidae, the long, straight, or slightly curved hind claw, the elongated tertials, and, to some extent, the shape of the bill, are shared by thie Anthinae or Motacillinae. Here, however, the posterior edge of the tarsus is sharp and undivided trans¬ versely, the toes more deeply cleft, the bill more slender, &c. There are two very distinct groups among the larks, possibly entitled to rank as sub-families. In the one the bill is stout, short, and conical. The nasal fossae transverse and completely filled by the thick tuft of bristly feathers, and perforated anteriorly by a circular nasal opening. In the other the bill is broader, more depressed, and straighter at the base. The nasal fossae are large, elongated, their axis parallel to the commissure, with rather linear nasal openings, not covered by feathers, but with merely a few bristles which do not conceal the nostrils. The type of the former may be considered as the European skylark, to which our Neocorys spragud bears so much resemblance in habit, but there is no American representative in form, the species all belonging to the other group, the Oalandritinae of Cabanis, as distinguished from the Alaudinac,^ EREMOPHILA, Boie. Eremophila, Boie, Isis, 1828, 322, Type Alauda alpestris. Sufficiently distinct from Eremophilus, Humboldt, (Fishes,) 1805. Phileremos, Brehm, DeutschI, Vogel, 1831, " Oiocorts, Bonaparte, 1839, Type Alauda alpestris." (Gray.) I am unable to find where the genus is named. Ch.—First primary wanting; bill scarcely higher than broad ; nostrils circular, concealed by a dense tuft of feathers; the nasal fossae oblique, A pectoral crescent and cheek patches of black. This genus differs from Melanocorypha in having no spurious first primary^ although the othercharacters are somewhat similar. Calandritis of Cabanis, with the same lack of first primary,has a much stouter bill. The spurious primary, more depressed bill, and differently constitutednostrils and nasal fossae of Alauda are readily distinctive. ' The Melanocorypha calandra of Boie, {Alauda calandra,) is doubtfully referred to by Richardson, F, B, Am, II, 244, as foundin the fur countries.